P.V. Sindhu finally broke her jinx against World no 1 Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei with a come-from-behind win in a thriller, while Sameer Verma outclassed Indonesia’s Tommy Sugiarto at the World Tour Finals here on Thursday.
After six successive losses in 13 meetings, Sindhu got the better of her nemesis Tzu Ying 14-21, 21-16, 21-18 in a Group A match that lasted a little over an hour.
World No. 14 Sameer dished out a dominating performance to beat the 10th ranked Sugiarto 21-16, 21-7 in a 40-minute Group B clash. The 24-year-old Indian had lost the opening match against World champion Kento Momota.
Sindhu, who had finished runner-up in the last edition, gave ample display of her grit as she bounced back from a game down and erased a 6-11 deficit in the final game to record her first win over the Asian Games champion since the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Sameer, who had come into the tournament with a 1-1 head-to-head record against Sugiarto, looked comfortable the Indonesian as his sharp game made life difficult for his opponent.
The Indian lagged 1-3 and 5-6 initially but soon wrested the lead with four straight points before entering the break at 11-7.
Sugiarto tried to stage a comeback and narrowed the deficit to 16-17 but Sameer reeled off the remaining four points to earn the bragging rights.
In the second game, Sugiarto again took a slender 5-3 advantage but the Indian stamped his authority to move from 7-6 to 16-6 with a nine-point burst, and then slammed the door on his rival with another five straight points.